Waterfowl hunting is a popular sport enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of individuals. The traditional style of waterfowl hunting is based on hunters attempting to lure waterfowl to fly within the effective range of the hunter's shotguns. The most common method for achieving this is for the hunter to place decoys resembling live waterfowl on the water in close proximity to the hunter's location.
One of the major problems experienced by waterfowl hunters is the lack of motion from traditional style static waterfowl hunting decoys. Live waterfowl are not attracted to decoys that are motionless on a smooth water surface. In fact, decoy spreads that have no movement can often spook wary waterfowl and hinder hunting success. Traditional decoys rely on wind for movement and waterfowl hunting often takes place on small impoundments or wetlands that need heavy winds to churn the surface of the water and move the decoys.
It is common knowledge among waterfowl hunters that motion decoys, those exhibiting some form of animation, are more likely to attract waterfowl than are traditional static decoys. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,709 discloses a duck decoy that includes a motorized head and a motorized tail propeller. The head motor turns a linkage that causes the head to bob vertically up and down. The propeller imparts propulsion and can cause splashing. While this motion decoy, like other similar examples, is an improvement over static decoys, the movement produced is not fully realistic of true waterfowl feeding behavior on the water.
As a result, there is a continuing need to provide for a waterfowl decoy, movement system and method that better mimics real feeding behavior on the water.